Hyderabadi Pucci (Chicken) Biryani

Ingredients : 

Method of Preparation :

Clean and cut the chicken into 8 pieces. Marinate it with yogurt, garam masala, half quantity of onion paste, ¹/₂tbs of ginger- garlic paste, crushed peppercorns, lime juice and salt for 1¹/₂hours.

Clean and soak rice for 30 minutes. Boil 1litre water in a vessel and put one clove, one cardamom and ¹/₂cinnamon in it. Add soaked rice. When it is half cooked add 1tsp oil and salt. Drain and keep aside. 

Heat some ghee and fry the sliced onions till golden brown and keep aside. Knead the flour to a smooth dough by adding enough water. 

Heat 50gm ghee in a thick bottom vessel. Add cumin and the remaining cardamom, cinnamon and clove and sauté for a while. Sauté by adding the remaining onion paste, followed by ginger-garlic paste. Add chopped tomatoes and red chilli powder and sauté till it is slightly cooked. Add marinated chicken and cook till the gravy leaves the sides of the container. Adjust the seasoning.

Remove half the curry from the vessel and spread half quantity of boiled rice over the curry. Garnish with half quantity of chopped mint leaves and deep fried onion kept aside. Place the second layer of curry over the rice and repeat the same. Pour the remaining ghee on the edges of the layered biryani. 

Seal the container with the dough and cook on low flame for 10-15 minutes. Break the seal just before serving. 

An alternative method is that a griddle is put on the flame and the biryani container over it with a weight on top. Or the container can be put in an oven and baked for 10-15 minutes on medium heat.